Green Manuring

Reviving Our Time

Tested Practices
 What Is Green Manuring
 This is a technique where we grow the manure in the field itself
and plough it back in.
 Traditionally, we grow a green manure crop between the main
crops as part of a crop rotation regime
 This is the best method during a farm conversion
 Traditional Green Manuring uses a single legume crop
 This an ancient method and has withstood the test of time –
finds mention in Vriksha-Ayurveda
 Green manuring offers an inexpensive way of improving crop
yields
– esp. important where there is not enough available animal
manure

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 Benefits
 Because legumes are deep rooted they break up the soil and help
bring up/unlock the nutrients and minerals from the vast reserves in
deeper layers of the soil and make them available to the main crops.
– For this reason they are also called pump crops
 The deep rooting also improves movement of water and air in the soil
 The legumes (i.e. their root nodules) fix the nitrogen from the air and
hence increase soil fertility
 Helps with weed control
– Bare soil can quickly be taken over by the weeds which then
become difficult and costly to remove
– The green manure crop competes with the weed for light, space
and nutrients and stops the weeds from proliferating

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 Benefits (Contd.)
 Green manuring improves water retention (because of the humus it
produces)
– This helps in preventing leaching of nutrients
 It also improves the soil structure i.e. makes clayey soil more porous
and sandy soil more cohesive
 Prevents soil erosion
– Leaving the soil bare is primary reason for erosion
– The roots penetrate and hold the soil
 Biomass is produced
– Roots are 3 times what you see on top
– You are effectively capturing and storing the sun's energy during the inter-
crop period
 Fossil fuels are the sun’s ancient energies trapped underneath i.e. former forests
that have been covered
– Will become food for the macro & micro organisms in the soil
 They are ultimately the true builders of the fertility of the soil

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 Choosing The Crop
 30/35 kg/acre of seed required
– the crop is grown at a higher density than the normal cropping
density
– so we get thinner stem
 each plant competes for light and grows thin and long
– hence we get more green than carbonaceous material overall.
 If we have more cellulose and lignin then it takes the energy of
the soil to decompose the organic matter which can become a
problem in poor soils
 Sunhemp gives 15 tonnes of biomass per acre
 Cow-Pea, Cluster Beans give about 6 tonnes of biomass per
acre

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 Choosing A Mixed Crop

 Another method of green manuring is to use a mix of

different plants
 This cannot be done if the soil is very poor.
– Hence may not be practical during the initial farm
conversion.
 Different plants have different specific relationships
with the micro-organisms and will accumulate
different nutrients in the tissue
 A good mix should contain a diverse mix of legumes,
non-legumes, oilseeds, weeds, climbers etc.

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 Mixed Crop Example
 Per acre following is a typical mix that Dr. Sarvadman Patel uses
– please change as per your local growing conditions
 Legumes
– Sunhemp, Sesbania, Cluster beans (5 Kg. each)
– Green Beans (Moong), Black Beans (Urad), Pigeon Peas (Toor Dal) (3 Kg.
each)
 Oil Seed
– Sunflower, Mustard, Soya - 1 Kg. each
– Sesame (200 gms.)
 Climbers
– Bottle Gourd, Smooth Gourd, Pumpkin (1 Kg. each)
 Cereal/Grasses
– Sweet Sudan Grass, Bajra, Maize (2 Kg. each)

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 Sowing The Green Manure Crop

 For sowing
– first irrigate i.e. wet the soil
– cultivate the soil
– broadcast the seed mixture
– lightly plough again.
 Sprinkle a little compost over this
 Sow the green manure crops on a leaf constellation
because we are more interested in the vegetative
part of the plant

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 Cutting/Ploughing In – Dos and Don’ts

 Green manure should be incorporated in the

top few inches of the soil where air, moisture
and heat are available.
– The nutrients contained within the green manure
become easily available to the young plants.
– Inoculate a little compost when ploughing in the
green manure - this will enhance the nitrogen
fixation

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 Cutting/Ploughing In – Dos and Don’ts

 Never plow under too deep.

– This is because it cuts off the capillary action of the soil and
prevents moisture from rising.
– Besides like a sponge it will absorb the moisture from the
top layer of the soil causing it to dry.
– The young plants will have no immediate access to the
nutrients.
– Also Carbon dioxide released from the decaying organic
matter will push out the air from the soil and hence also the
free nitrogen.
 The crops look yellowish because of this
 paradoxically we are creating a temporary nitrogen deficiency

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 Cutting/Ploughing – Method I

 In this method we allow the plants to grow for 2

months and around the flowering time cut and
incorporate it into the soil.
 The disk harrow can be very effectively used for this
job.
 For the seed sowing of main crop wait for a month
– because enough nitrogen is not available for germination.
 For transplanted plants this can be done within 15
days

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 Cutting/Ploughing – Method II
 In the second method we allow the plants to grow till about
20% flowering, then cut it up to 5 feet (i.e. leave up to 1 foot
standing);
 Allow the crop to grow back again for up to 50 % flowering;
Now cut up to the base and use it in a separate compost pile
(i.e. not in-situ).
 Whatever was cut in the first round is already decomposed.
Sprinkle a little compost and we are ready for immediate
sowing.
 The benefit here is that the 2nd growth has more nodulation.
 For horticulture
– same as second method but allow 100% flowering and cut and use
the second growth around the tree as mulch

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